Flu Attack

It all started last Tuesday when DD18 came home from school sick with the flu. You know, aching, headache, diarrhea, stuffy nose etc. She was laid up for 3 days in her room. Saturday night DH was up at 1:30 a.m. in the bathroom getting rid of everything in his body. At one point, he blacked out and fell practically biting his lip off. It was a long night. He was down for 2 days before he started to feel back to himself. I was happy to play caregiver, after all, I was feeling fine.

So, Monday afternoon, DD17 has to have older sis pick her up from school. Yep, she has it, too. The flu. She got home and curled up on the couch for a couple of hours. Later DD 18 noticed she had been in the bathroom for 45 minutes so I check on her. She was literally camped out in there with her blanket, a pot, and sitting on the floor in front of the commode. That's no way to be sick. So we convinced her to camp out on the couch some more. She was cold as ice, 96.4 temp and pasty, pale white. So we do our best to keep her comfortable.

Fast forward to 11:00 p.m. Monday evening and you guessed it. Me! I'm making friends with the commode in the bathroom. Aching, miserable, and honestly, just how long can this go on? There can't possibly be anything left in my body to get rid of. This flu that we had is sudden and violent. Not fun! I don't buy acetaminophen because it has never helped me with headaches or anything else. But the ibuprofen and aleve that we had on hand said to take with food, which I obviously hadn't eaten, and I didn't want to further distress my stomach. So DH made a run to town Tuesday and picked some acetaminophen up and guess what. I took two at 1:00, and fell asleep for an hour. At 2:00 p.m., I woke up and most of my achiness was gone. I was on the road to recovery!

The biggest challenge was to try and keep DD17 hydrated. She didn't want to take anything in. She finally perked up Tuesday afternoon and had some toast and gatorade. Plus, she's off to school today. I stayed home again today. I want to be sure I don't have any unforeseen bodily attacks at school!

I haven't had a flu shot in about 5 years. The last time I had a flu shot, I was sicker than a dog for the next 2 days with all the miserable flu symptoms. I haven't had one since. The rest of my family doesn't get the shots either. I don't know that I trust what the government puts in those shots, either. And why do I want to be putting the virus in my body anyway? Flu shots are only good for a few strains of the flu, and who knows, we may have had a strain that wasn't included in the shots. I have heard it is going through the schools here. It's never fun. But my advice is to have some acetaminophen on hand. It was my life saver.